Combat Training 101

Welcome to Combat Training 101. My name is Zervish Alaris. I am a Guardian. I will be drawing specific examples from my own experience, however, I mean for this class to be useful to most professions.

We will be covering basics of weapon selection, combat movement, combat awareness, and numerical advantage.

Weapon Selection

Whether you pick a main weapon and its offhand, or one set and another set, you should consider complementarity and synergy.

Complementarity refers to whether weapons fulfill different roles, therefore giving you more options during combat. A good example of this is how I often like to take the greatsword for melee, and then the scepter for ranged combat. Another example is taking an offensive weapon set and a defensive weapon set, so you can take out squishy foes faster, but can switch to a more defensive set when being overwhelmed. Complementarity can also works within a set, for example I can hit foes at a distance with the scepter while keeping them at a distance with the shield, rather than opt for an offhand that also adds ranged damage.

Synergy comes in many forms. Synergy often refers to skills that combo off of each other, like how one sets up a field and another triggers it. Another form of synergy is how two similar sets allows you to use strong skills off of the first set, and then switch set to the other set to use its skills while the first set recharges. Another example is how both the sword and the torch have an attack that hits foes in a line, so it is more efficient to use these two as a set because the work you put into putting foes in a line is rewarded by letting you unleash two strong attacks on them.

It is thus important to practice many weapon sets and see what works well together within your combat style. When using a set (or two), consider how the skills have synergy or complementarity. It will help you learn how to pick your weapon sets and how to play them better.

It is difficult to have high complementarity and synergy both at the same time, there are often trade-offs to make. However, be sure to at least avoid sets that have low complementarity and synergy. The two skills on the torch for example both cause burning, a condition that does not stack… I therefore avoid using those two skills simultaneously.

As a general rule, you want greater complementarity when alone, and greater synergy when playing as part of a team. This is because you can use your team to cover your weaknesses, whereas along you only have yourself to rely on.

Combat Movement

Stay soft on your feet, soldier. Moving around is not just for thieves.

Foes generally hit in front of them. Your job will be easier if you do not stay there. While it will be hard to avoid many quick attacks or AoE attacks, foes sometimes can be seen charging for a strong attack. If you are in constant movement, these attacks will usually miss. If you are not in constant movement, quick reflexes can still save your from a strong hit. This is true in ranged combat as well as melee combat. Just make sure that you keep your foe in front of you so you can keep hitting them.

Combat Awareness

Foes have all kinds of attacks and strategies, it is up to you to find good ways to counter them.

Harpies for example like to evade attacks. However, they cannot evade my fire breath. Please, no jokes. Likewise, warriors who cower behind a shield are still affected by my ground-targeted AoE attacks, and stealthy types die quickly if I time my big attacks just when they re-appear.

Learn your opponent’s behavior and skills. Learn to counter their strengths, to exploit their weakness, and you will mow down your foes with greater ease.

Numerical Advantage

Numerical advantage usually refers to having more allies than foes. This, I hope I do not have to teach you. You should however be careful not to surround yourself with more foes than you can handle, especially when you move around during combat. It is easy to upset more foes or even back yourself into a wall or over a cliff if you do not look where you go when you move backwards. For this reason, I prefer to move around my foe rather than backward. Another strategy is to never move backward.

But I also like to take advantage of my wide melee attacks to mow down multiple foes. The goal is to engage just as many foes as you can maintain the advantage over. This, while risky, means that I can kill more foes within the same time… always a good advantage during war. Make sure that foes are placed properly so they all fall within your attack arc… or line if using a sword and torch.

This is it for this time. Make sure you practice, and feel free to ask questions…